


You Are My Angel

by Coffeine



Category: JO1 (Japan Band), Produce 101 (Japan TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fist Fights, Future Fic, I'm sorry I'm bad at putting tags, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Keigo learns how to play the guitar, M/M, Mutual Pining, Non AU, Slightly Timeskip, Songfic, Star-crossed, Two Shot, Unhappy Ending, just read it if its sad boi hours, star-crossed lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:42:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25637515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coffeine/pseuds/Coffeine
Summary: It's been JO1's dream to go on a dome tour and they finally achieve it. However, one member can't join them. The others are left to mourn for the loss of their main vocal, Junki.Keigo, Junki's bestfriend can't help but reminisce about the old times when they were inseparable. Often finding themselves alone at night, jamming and playing the guitar. Keigo thought it was only natural to sing one of their late night jams “Wherever You Are by One Ok Rock” as a tribute to his angel.
Relationships: Kono Junki/Sato Keigo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keigo is nervous about his first ever performance in a stage as big as the dome. He volunteered to sing for his dearest best friend as tribute. They're all on edge as the time to the concert nears. This leads to too much tension backstage, maybe resulting to a fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! It's my first time writing a fanfiction, and this is my first work. I hope you have fun while reading this. There are some depictions of violence but not overly morbid and gory (just a fist fight and throwing of objects here and there), so in case someone would be triggered by that, please free to click out. 
> 
> Also there's implied mention of character death! I just thought it would be good to put that out if you don't read the tags. This fanfiction is also set in the future where they have already been successful enough to fully book a dome. No particular age, just the near future.
> 
> This is a songfic, so it would be great if you have "Wherever You Are by One Ok Rock" in the background while you read, that would make your reading experience better.
> 
> For now, please do enjoy my first JunKeigo fanfiction!

Keigo’s heart was beating fast. He could hear the sound of the audience from backstage. The loud cheering was ringing in his ear. It was nerve wracking thinking about the sheer amount people waiting for him and his bandmates to play.

He had never experienced such nervousness before. It felt like he was back to being a trainee, waiting for his turn to perform his first evaluation. Beads of cold sweat started to form down the middle of his back. Just as he had the urge to bite his fingernails, he noticed someone walking closer.

“Hey Keigo? You okay man?” Syoya had noticed Keigo’s anxious spells so he sat beside him. “It’s crazy right? Our first dome tour. Never thought it would happen.” Keigo knew his friend was trying to make small talk to calm him down. He appreciated the thought.

“Dude, I’m so fucking nervous.” Syoya couldn’t help but laugh out loud at his bandmate’s bluntness. Keigo let out a little giggle as well, feeling relieved of some of his tension.

Sheepishly smiling, Syoya confessed. “Honestly, I am too.” He too didn’t know how to deal with this sudden nervousness. They usually wouldn’t be this nervous because someone else would reassure them. “Come to think of it, we were never this nervous during our concerts. Somehow... Junki would always calm us down,” Syoya ended in a hesitant tone.

Keigo felt his throat go dry at the sudden mention of his best friend. It’s been quite a while since they talked about Junki. It’s not that talking about the main vocal was a sensitive topic; they just didn’t want to feel melancholic. Syoya continued his rambling. “I wish he was here.”

The taller of the two let out a sigh and smiled. “I know. I miss him.” Keigo stretched out his legs and looked up in thought. Smiling dejectedly, Syoya stopped picking his nails and looked at Keigo. “I miss him too.”

The sound of the staff rushing around the backstage took them out of their melancholic trance. Sho, who was looking for all the members, was making sure each of them was ready to be on stage by the time the concert was supposed to start.

“There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Keigo squinted his eyes to make out what seemed to be Sho who had a guitar case strapped to his back. The pair stood up to greet their leader. “Ren wanted to go over the positions one last time but couldn’t ‘cause we couldn’t find you two.”

Ruki appeared, holding microphones in both hands. “Ren’s gonna kill you.” Ruki handed out the microphones to both Syoya and Keigo before calling the staff to attach their earpieces.

Raising both of his arms, Keigo allowed the staff to put on his in-ear monitor. “Crap, did he say anything?” Syoya was fumbling with his in-ear monitor, trying to make it as comfortable as possible. Ruki crossed his arms and leaned on one foot. “Well he didn’t say anything, he just looked hella upset.”

Putting his arms down, Keigo patted down his clothes to make sure nothing looked out of place. He sure as hell didn’t want Ren barking down his neck, but he needed time to ease the anxiety of having to perform in front of such a large audience. Pulling up his pants, he went deep into thought. Ren can wait.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. We have at least thirty more minutes until we face the dome. I’d rather have us relax and do a pep talk than practice.” Sho took the guitar from his back and handed it to Keigo.

Puzzled, Keigo tilted his head, confused as to what he should do with the guitar. Sho took the hint and cocked his head. “I found it when I went back to clean our old rooms. I thought you might…” Sho trailed off.

Keigo unzipped the case. _Did Sho buy him a guitar to congratulate him on finally learning the musical instrument?_ Half way through unzipping, his hands stopped. Frozen, Keigo almost dropped the guitar in shock. He felt his gut churn at the sight of the instrument. He licked his lips, readying himself to try to piece a coherent sentence.

_It was Junki’s guitar._

Before he could even open his mouth, Sho hurriedly added. “I thought it would be more meaningful to perform with this guitar. Instead of... you know, another one.” Sho awkwardly rubbed Keigo’s back in an attempt to comfort him.

Why would Sho willingly hand him Junki’s old guitar? Is he trying to piss him off? Keigo had a lot of questions. Why now of all times? Just when they were about to perform. Just when they were about to perform without him, without Junki. Is he doing this on purpose? Keigo was conflicted.

The room fell quiet at the sight of Junki’s guitar. It was as if to provide a moment of silence for Keigo who looked overwhelmed. Tears started to well-up in Keigo’s eyes. He remembered the times when Junki would carry the instrument, lightly strumming to the beat of whatever song he was in the mood to sing.

He remembered the songs he would sing to Keigo during sleepless nights. The sweet hymns he would hum to calm him down when he couldn’t sleep the day before a performance. Junki would often proudly show Keigo his calloused hands from playing the guitar when he just started learning. He remembers that idiotic smiling face. _Shit._ He really did miss him.

Keigo snapped out of his trance and zipped the guitar’s case back up. He gripped the object tightly and hugged it close to his chest. Blinking away the forming tears, he looked at Sho and flashed a grateful smile. “Thanks, I’ll use this.”

Sho smiled back in welcome. Keigo tried to play it cooly, looking around so Sho couldn’t see his reddening eyes. Everyone was scurrying around him doing last minute preparations.

At the far corner of the room, his other members were doing their last minute preparation too. Shion and Issei were standing in front of their make-up artist, having her do little retouches to their make-up. Sukai and Shosei were having their in-ear microphones put on.

Their lively chatter could be heard from where Keigo stood.

“Where did you guys go?” Shion asked the pair.

“Sukai was feeling nervous so he had to take a piss. We just went with him.” 

Sukai, who had heard what Shosei said, frowned. He felt the need to interject so he opened his mouth in protest. “Dude, piss-off. You were nervous too. You couldn’t even aim properly.”

Loud laughter was heard from both Shion and Shosei who seemed to find Sukai’s remark funny. The pair continued to bicker but Keigo wasn’t listening; he started to zone out. Keigo didn’t want to eavesdrop any longer. 

Excited cheers from the fans were starting to fill the backstage followed by what Keigo made out to be the audio of their Infinity music video. It seems like the concert manager started to show some of their older music videos. The screams were getting louder by the second. The event was about to start soon. Again, he could feel his nervousness creep in.

He placed his hands on his chest, feeling his loud heartbeat, and tried to match his breathing to the sound of his heart to regulate his breathing. Syoya, Ruki, and Sho looked at each other. They wanted so much to help him, but they could feel Keigo’s fragility. They were afraid that whoever was supposedly consoling Keigo might just hurt him even more.

Syoya opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the staff members beckoning for Sho and Syoya to get their earpieces attached. The pair hesitantly took a step forward. Ruki motioned for the two to leave, implying that he’d handle this. With reluctance, Sho and Syoya left.

Ruki pulled Keigo to sit down on a chair. The older of the two sat down cross-legged and patted the seat beside him. Keigo sat down and placed the guitar in between his legs. He held the neck of the guitar with both hands after placing the microphone Ruki handed to him on the chair beside him.

Placing his hands on the other’s thigh, Ruki looked Keigo in the eye. “Keigo, you can trust us, you know?” Ruki offered a sympathetic smile and continued to reassure his friend. ”I know we’re all nervous having our first dome concert, and most of all without Junki, but trust me when I tell you that he wouldn’t want us fretting over him.” 

He tilted his head to the side towards the entrance to the stage. “He would want us to perform our hearts out. This is our dream after all. The only thing we can do is carry his feelings with us to the concert.”

Keigo lowered his eyes, he could only nod at what Ruki was saying. Ruki was right, all he needed to do was carry Junki’s feelings out to the crowd. Now what he had to worry about was how to effectively perform so that they can give justice to Junki.

They were doing this concert for Junki after all. It wouldn’t feel right if he couldn’t perform out of nervousness. Ruki could see the determination come back to Keigo’s eyes. He leaned back to give his friend personal space. Ruki patted Keigo’s thighs again and grinned. “I know you can do it. I know we can do it.”

Keigo made a sound of agreement. Ruki then left to get his earpiece attached. Keigo was left to his thoughts again alone. During these times he would remember a song that Junki would frequently sing. He sang it so much that Keigo wouldn’t be able to get it out of his head. Now the song was his comfort and something he’d like to sing in remembrance to Junki.

Fixing his sitting position so that he can place his chin on top of the headstock, he started to close his eyes. He started humming the tune of the chorus. The lyrics to the song automatically in his head.

  
  
  


**Wherever you are, I'll always make you smile**

**Wherever you are, I'm always by your side**

**Whatever you say,** **you're always on my mind**

**I promise you "forever" right no-**

  
  
  


“Syoya, Keigo!”

Startled by the sudden call of his name, Keigo chin slid from it’s position causing him to choke on his own spit. Ren, who had shouted both of their names, approached them in long and firm strides. A distressed looking Takumi followed Ren, he was half running trying to catch up to his friend. “Where the hell were you guys? We could’ve used the time to go over the performance but we couldn’t.”

A cough came out of Keigo’s mouth. He wiped his mouth with his arm in an attempt to compose himself. Looking around, he noticed that the whole group had gathered in the backstage, _or at least what was left of it_.

Keigo lifted his chin off from the guitar. Feeling incredibly irritated, his head snapped to the direction Ren was standing. His eyes squinted into a glare. A burning pain was felt from the spot that Junki’s guitar slid off. The burning sensation travelled all the way down to his body as if preparing him to fight 

Ren walked up to where Keigo was sitting and stood in front of him. Keigo could see the irritation in the dancer’s eyes. His normally fierce eyes, looks a lot fiercer today. If looks could kill, Keigo would’ve been dead already. Putting on a neutral expression, it was obvious Keigo wasn’t in the mood to bicker, instead he just looked up at the smaller male and let out an exasperated sigh.

“What?” Keigo’s curt and brief response made Ren visibly irritated. “Why are you slacking off?” Keigo sighed at Ren’s question, adding fuel to the fire.

Lightheaded. That’s what Ren was feeling. An argument was inevitable now, especially with how Keigo was acting.

“What the hell do you mean I’m slacking off?” Keigo tilted his head in annoyed confusion.

The atmosphere of the room grew tense. The other members could sense an incoming fight, but didn’t know whether it would be right to intervene.

“Instead of practicing, I see you just sitting here. Are you even taking this seriously?”

Keigo raised an eyebrow. “Uh, I sure am. What the hell’s your problem?”

Takumi, who was standing awkwardly behind Ren, was growing anxious of the pair’s exchanges. Each sentence was laced with hidden poison. Takumi knew he had to stop them or else it would escalate further.

“You’re my problem. Why can’t you just cooperate with me, Keigo?”

“Why are you making such a big deal out of this? You’re overreacting Ren.” Keigo’s hands left the guitar and gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting on.

“Maybe I wouldn’t, overreact if you didn’t mess up so much.” Ren replied curtly.

Takumi couldn’t stand to watch the argument anymore. “Hey, Ren I think you’re just tired-” Before he could finish his sentence, Keigo interrupted him.

“Worry about yourself first Ren! Stop breathing down my neck!”

Feeling intimidated, Takumi could feel himself shrink down. He quickly shut his mouth and slowly walked away from the pair, hoping that someone else would intervene. With the tension between them, a fight was bound to happen, and Takumi didn’t want to cover up a bruise from a stray blow.

“It’s my job to worry Keigo. I’m the performance leader.”

Ren was inching closer towards him in an attempt to look more intimidating. Keigo could feel Ren’s breath on his face. Feeling claustrophobic, he pushed Ren away causing him to stumble back.

“Well I’m sorry I’m not as perfect as you. Would you want me to be as uptight as you? Huh?”

In a moment of extreme irritation, Ren regained his footing and walked up to Keigo. Pushing past Junki’s guitar, he leaned in to jab his finger on Keigo’s chest. “I haven’t slept properly in 7 days because of your constant mess ups. If you’re gonna show me something, at least show me some respect.”

The guitar slipped past the fabric of the aforementioned’s pants. Time stopped moving for Keigo as he watched Junki’s guitar fall down. Using his long arms, he tried to reach for it, but it was too late.

It slipped and dropped— _along with Keigo’s heart_.

The guitar met the cold floor with a loud clatter. As if a trigger, Keigo’s thread of reasoning broke.

The other members were startled by the loud sound and found themselves staring at the pair, and Keigo looked about ready to throw a punch. However, upon seeing Ren, they felt a sense of ease. Usually Ren would be levelheaded so the members thought they’d leave it be.

Heat travelled all the way to Keigo’s face. Clenching his jaw, he started to feel the rage build up inside him. Nervousness was gone, all that was left was pure resentment. Keigo stood up and glared at Ren. Forcing a sentence with the last of his coherent state, he whispered through clenched teeth.

“What. The. Fuck. Is your problem?” 

Clenching and unclenching his fist, Keigo tried to reason to himself. They were having their first dome tour in Junki’s honor. If they were to face their fans just minutes after a fight, he would feel ashamed of himself. They needed to keep it professional.

“I’m tired Keigo. I’m sleep deprived and I want to rest, but I didn’t because I thought you might squeeze in more practice on the day of the performance to clear up your mistakes. But instead, you go wander off somewhere.” Ren tried to calmly explain despite the slight impatience in his tone.

“Ren.” Keigo inhaled sharply. “We practiced all week. Cut me some slack, I was relaxing my nerves.”

“I’m telling you, I would if you didn’t mess up in our last practice.” Ren put his hands on his hips.

Keigo squinted in disbelief. “We all weren’t doing well during that practice.” 

“Then be professional and practice before the show so you won’t mess up during the actual thing”

The taller man threw his hands up in the air to exaggerate his exasperation. “Well I’m sorry Mr. dancing machine! I’m not perfect like you!”

“Keigo. I’m telling you right now, if you don’t fix your attitude...”

“Ren, I’m telling you right now.” Keigo mimicked Ren in a mocking way. “You know the exact reason I was messing up that day, Ren. You know the exact reason why we were all messing up.” He then pointed to the guitar on the floor, but kept his gaze on Ren. “Now pick that guitar back up, before I fuck you up.”

Ren scoffed in disbelief. They were having a quarrel and Keigo wanted him to pick up a guitar. Ren couldn’t believe his ears. “Keigo, what is up with you? I’m going to quote you on this. Why are you making such a big deal out of this? It just fell down, it probably doesn’t even have a scratch.” Ren asked, confused, yet full of displeasure from Keigo’s unwillingness to accept he was wrong.

Yet the only thing he could see was Red. All Keigo could see was Red. How dare Ren. How dare he downplay the situation. How dare he smack Junki’s guitar down to the floor. Keigo had enough, he clenched his fists and lifted his arm.

“Hey Ren, clench your jaw.”

The sound of flesh hitting bone could be heard followed by Ren stumbling back holding his cheek. Keigo had just hit him right on the cheekbone. Ren could feel the stinging pain on his cheek. He could feel a ringing in his ear.

Dazed from the blow, Ren’s mind went blank. Coupled with the fatigue from staying up late at night for several days, he started to ache from weeks of teaching his band mates who couldn’t even get the dance steps right. Add to the fact, the throbbing pain from where Keigo had just punched him. In result he couldn’t think straight leading to only having one thing on his mind. _He had to strike back._

Ren’s fists landed square on Keigo’s jaw.

Keigo felt nauseated from the punch. Adrenaline was coursing through his whole body. He couldn’t hear all the screaming around him as his members told him to stop. He won’t stop, this fucker had no respect for his friend’s memento. Ren needed to be taught a lesson.

“You’re really pissing me off!”

In retaliation Keigo went for another swing, but Ren ducked down to tackle Keigo by the torso pushing him back up a wall. Keigo felt the shock of the impact through his back. A cough leaving his lips from the contact. 

“You’re crazy!” Ren screamed at Keigo who was still in a daze from the tackle. 

Ren really had no idea why Keigo was overreacting! He had only accidentally pushed the guitar. He didn’t mean for it to fall. But Keigo decided to punch him, and Ren decided to fight back.

“And you’re an inconsiderate prick!” Keigo screamed back. Was Ren always this dense? Keigo was puzzled. It was the last thing Junki ever left behind. He was resentful, and he needed to knock some senses into Ren. Looking around, Keigo was finding ways on how to escape Ren’s hold.

Keigo saw the microphone Ruki had handed to him, on the chair where he last left it. He tried to reach out for it and successfully grabbed it. Feeling guilty for what he was about to do to Ren, Keigo wanted to apologize in advance, but his mind was in a flurry. Keigo could barely make a coherent sentence through his adrenaline coursed body. Gripping the microphone tightly, he bashed Ren’s head with it.

“Shit!” Ren exclaimed in pain and placed his hands on his head to soothe the growing bump. Keigo hurriedly used this opportunity to hold Ren up on the wall by his shirt with his own two hands.

“What the hell’s wrong with you Keigo! We’re about to start the show!” Ren’s feet were dangling, the tips of his toes barely touching the ground. Keigo’s hold on his shirt was so strong that it was holding him up.

“No Ren! What the hell’s wrong with you! How could you say that!” Keigo couldn’t think properly. He was in rage and he was baffled by how Ren was playing the innocent victim. His distorted mind was telling him to choke Ren. _So he did._ One of his hands released Ren’s shirt and transferred to squeeze on his neck.

The other boys were all in panic seeing Keigo starting to choke Ren. There was just shrieking and chaos backstage. Nobody could comprehend what was happening over the course of 2 minutes. The pair went from staring each other down to choking each other.

Takumi looked around to find someone who could stop them and his eyes landed on Sho. The leader was physically the strongest and could possibly talk Keigo and Ren out of their argument.

He hurried to Sho. “Please, stop them.” Takumi pleaded as he glanced up at Sho. 

The latter, who looked to be in a state of shock, snapped out of his trance. He took pride as their leader, and this was a situation where they needed him the most. He needed to act fast in order to make sure no one would be hurt any further than this. Sho scanned the area for Shosei and when he did find him, he lightly called his name. 

“Shosei, I want you to call Naoto-san. Go now and hurry!” Shosei could only nod and dashed to the exit, hurrying to find their manager.

By now Ren was starting to feel lightheaded. Black spots were dancing around his vision. Keigo was cutting off his oxygen cycle after all. He had to figure out a way to make Keigo’s choke-hold loosen. He needed it fast. Ren tried to raise his legs up to his chest and kicked Keigo in the gut with all his might.

Keigo was blown away by Ren’s kick causing him to let go of the other’s neck. He felt the bile rise up his throat, almost losing what he had for lunch. Pounding his fist on his chest, he tried to get rid of the rancor taste.

While Keigo was distracted. Ren was immersed in picking up the chair that Keigo was sitting on just moments ago. He steadied the chair and gave it a good kick. He didn’t want Keigo coming closer after that encounter so he thought it would benefit him if an object was between them, hence kicking the chair towards Keigo’s direction. He felt much safer with the chair as a barrier. 

Livid. Keigo was absolutely livid. He couldn’t think properly now. He could only feel the throbbing ache from his stomach, where Ren had kicked him. His mind was blank and empty as he lifted up the chair that Ren had propelled at him by it’s back legs and was preparing to throw it back.

Sho saw what Keigo was about to do and swiftly tried to stop him. He grabbed the front legs and yanked on it to wrestle the chair out of Keigo’s grip. “Keigo! Calm down!” Sho cried out. The adrenaline was pushing Keigo past his limits.

Glancing to see it if anyone could help him. His eyes glazed past Ruki. If he were the one to help him, he feared that he’d just be blown away. Takumi? Issei? Those two were out of the list as well. 

Just as he was wondering who could help him, he made eye contact with Shion and Syoya.

The pair sensed Sho’s gaze. They scrambled to help out their eldest. Stopping behind Keigo, the pair took one arm each and pulled Keigo back. “Why are you trying to stop me?” Keigo asked, confused. With the additional people ganging up on him, Keigo couldn’t hold onto the chair any longer.

In the far corner of the room stood Sukai. Takumi, Ruki and Issei. They suggested to help the male and female staff leave the vicinity, so they wouldn’t fall prey to a stray punch from one of the boys. So they did just that. After Sukai was done, he was about to help Sho restrain Keigo. However something caught his eye. Through his peripheral vision he could see Ren holding up an object.

Ren dropped down to his knees after he let go of the chair. His legs gave up on him after the adrenaline left his body. Gasping for air, he grabbed his neck to soothe the slight irritation that was left by Keigo’s hand. He could only take in shallow breaths. Safe to say Ren was beyond pissed. At first Ren was willing to hear Keigo out even if he threw the first punch. But, Keigo decided to choke him. That was unacceptable. If Keigo wanted to play, Ren would play with him.

Feeling around for anything to grab, Ren felt the silkiness of what seemed to be a nylon cover. He looked at what he was holding and found it to be the exact same guitar that started the argument.

Ren was frazzled and was completely out of it.

Without thinking, he held the guitar in front of him, and held it towards Keigo with full intent to swing it in defense if ever he comes nearer than he already was. Thankfully, Sukai noticed Ren’s movements before it happened. Rushing to stop Ren, Sukai tried to tug the guitar out of Ren’s grasp. “Ren! Put the guitar down.” Sukai pleaded through gritted teeth.

“Ren! Calm down and think things through! What’s up with you? You’re not usually like this!” Sukai was at loss of what to do with the older man.

The situation was starting to sink into Ren’s mind. Why did he do all of that? He loosened his grip on Junki’s guitar letting Sukai tug it out of his grasp. Blinking, he started to backtrack to the actions he had committed. He took a deep breath to compose himself.

“S-sorry.” He uttered in an unsure tone.

After the weight of the situation downed upon Ren, regret started to creep into his being. It wasn’t an excuse that he was tired and irritated. He should have acted in a more mature way than throwing punches around like a kid. Talking it out was the best choice, but instead Ren decided to go with the flow and punch back Keigo. Self-loathing was starting to eat him up. Ren blamed himself for everything.

Taking the guitar away from Ren, Sukai turned to face the guilt-ridden man. Ren’s face contorted in a somber look. Sukai carefully placed the guitar on the wall, before going to pat Ren on the back, sympathising with his deep regret.

“Why did I do that?” Never in his life did Ren think he’d punch one of his members. He was an adult and should be the bigger person in these situations. But he couldn’t undo what was done.

“Let me at him!” A loud voice interrupted Ren’s train of thought.

Keigo, who had to be pulled back by both Shion and Syoya, was still in a state of rage. Sho placed the chair back on the ground and slid it as far away from Keigo as possible. Wiping the dust from the legs of the chair onto his pants, he looked at the pair that was fighting mere moments ago. 

“Can someone tell me what in the world is going on.” Ren was readying himself to give out a reason but Keigo beat him to it. 

“He pushed the guitar!” Keigo exclaimed in an accusatory tone.

“It was an accident!”

The both of them were growing very much frustrated with each other. The pair did not understand why the other was so unwilling to admit their mistake. It didn’t seem to get any better as the both of them continued to misunderstand each other.

“Why can’t you just admit that you were in the wrong Ren?”

“I’ll admit that punching back was immature of me, and I apologize. But you have to take into account what you’ve done as well.”

“Take into account? You flung a chair at me!”

“And you choked me!” Ren shouted in disbelief, even if he knew he did all those actions in self defense and really didn’t mean to do so, but justifying his actions was not sitting well with Ren — _most especially the choking part_.

Sho had seen enough squabbling today, it was mere minutes before the performance of their possibly biggest break in the industry yet. If he allowed those two to enter into the dome without a proper reconciliation, the fans were sure to notice, and it would also affect their performance. If they kept this up, the whole group's atmosphere would be very tense as well.

A few seconds passed without either one of them talking which made Sho sigh. He had to take matters into his own hands. Taking two chairs for them to sit on, he motioned for the two to sit down.

“Sit down and talk about what happened.”

Keigo didn’t want to do that. He was still pretty much angry with Ren and didn't desire to be anywhere near him.

“No way am I sitting beside him! Not until he apologizes.”

Ren just kept quiet. He had a lot of things in his mind right now, and he was brooding over all of them. Trying to come up with an excuse or even a reply was hard, especially since he had little to absolutely no sleep, his body was weary from exhaustion and so was his mind. It’s not that he wasn’t thinking, he just physically can’t do so.

Keigo didn’t appreciate the silence Ren left him in. Assuming he was guilty and had finally acknowledged his wrong doings, he was about to open his mouth to say something but was forced to close it again when someone smacked him upside the head.

Issei was watching the scene unfold in the corner of the room, since he was the youngest the older members kept him away from the fight, fearing that he may be hit. With not being able to do anything he had offered to help Sukai, Ruki and Takumi escort the staff outside. However things weren’t looking good for Sho who was left to deal with the aftermath. He too was a part of the group and he felt responsibility towards his other members.

“What are you guys doing?” Issei had only seriousness in his tone and it was safe to say he didn’t enjoy what had occurred in the past few minutes.

“Seriously, what the actual _fuck_ are you doing?”

Keigo and Ren flinched at the sound of Issei cursing. The youngest really didn’t curse often and was only driven to do so when he was furious. The two gulped, Issei was absolutely furious with them.

“Do you realize what you’re doing?” Issei had to pinch the bridge of his nose, he was standing between Keigo and Ren. He had to look down on the two, it made him look a lot more intimidating than he was. With an imposing aura, he gave the pair a tongue lashing.

“We have around 20 more minutes until the actual performance starts and you guys are here fighting like children!” Issei started to pace around.

“I can’t believe you guys are this childish to actually start a fight right before our concert. Might I add that this is our very first dome concert! I know we’re all tired and distressed since a lot of things have happened this week, but what the fuck guys…” Issei started to trail off. He stopped his pacing and looked at Ren who had his head hung in guilt.

“Ren. I thought you’d know better. I actually thought you’d be the more mature one here. I can’t believe you picked a fight with Keigo.”

“I’m sorry.” Ren hung his head low and muttered an apology. He was feeling a mix of both guilt and shame. Guilt for daring to hit one of his members and deviating from the original purpose of the concert. Shame because he acted so childishly and showed an unsightly part of himself.

Issei then turned to look at Keigo who was looking away. 

“And you Keigo! What happened to you? You don’t tell us anything for a week. You shut yourself off from us and on the day that we really needed you the most you come out pissed as hell choking our dance leader! What the hell is up with you!”

Keigo winced at the vivid description of Issei. Just now did he realize that maybe what he had done to Ren was a bit too far. He didn’t know what was going through his head when he decided to do all that. His throat was starting to dry.

“We’re all trying to understand you Keigo, we all are. But if you’re just gonna shut us off and then start a fight with just about anyone…”

Issei was at a loss of what else to say to Keigo. He was so frustrated with the two. A lot of things should be said, but Issei didn’t want to go too far with his scolding. He racked his brain to figure out what kind of words to say in this situation.

“If you two are just gonna mess around and fight, leave. The door is right there. Take this thing seriously, we all know what’s at stake here.”

Thinking really hard, Issei weighed down his options. He didn’t want to bring up “that”, but he felt that it was something that needed to be said. Nobody was talking about it and it was about time they started to. Just thinking about it started to bring tears to his eyes. Issei also had an inkling that the fight was also related to “that”.

“This concert…” Issei took a deep breath, the tears threatening to spill from his eyes. “Was supposed to be a tribute for Junki.” As Issei mentioned Junki’s name, a teardrop slid down his cheeks.

“We all promised to dedicate this concert to this concert for him. But what the actual fuck are you guys doing.”

Angry tears were now spilling down Issei’s cheeks, he tried to wipe them off with his elbows, but stopped when he realized that some of his makeup might transfer to his clothes.

“You guys decide to fight on this important day. You could have chosen to fight on another day but no, you chose this exact day. It's been a week since Junki left us and- and-” Issei started to sob, tasting the salty tears on his lips. The pair couldn’t bear to look at the youngest knowing that if they were to do so, they’d break down along with him.

“And we- we couldn’t even attend his f-funeral because of this damn dome concert.” Sho, noticing Issei becoming more emotional, approached him and started to rub his back.

A grueling feeling was stirring in Issei’s stomach. He was angry at the two for not respecting Junki’s special day. Remembering Junki’s departure from the world always put them in a very emotional state. The whole group had missed Junki, and they were the most regretful they couldn’t be there with him as he’s lowered down six feet under, to be buried away forever.

_They were never going to see him ever again._

“You know what hurts? Knowing that it’s Junki’s dream to hold this concert, he was the most excited out of all of us. Yet, he couldn’t- he couldn’t be here.” Issei took a deep breath and paused. 

“So the least you could do is deliver this concert properly. But if you can’t even respect the deceased’s wishes then leave. Leave the fucking dome, we can do it without you.”

As soon as Issei said the last word, he had turned around to leave. Issei was too embarrassed to show the older members his tear stained face.

Sho watched as Issei left, he made a mental note to himself that he should check up on Issei as soon he’s finished dealing with the two. He looked at the miserable state that the pair had sunken in and sighed.

“I think I should leave you guys alone for a while, I’m sure Issei’s words made you realize some things. Talk things out now.” With that, Sho left to look for Issei.

The two men looked at each other awkwardly. They didn’t know what to say to each other. Well who wouldn’t be awkward in this situation? They were at each other's throats just a few minutes ago. Ren took a short peek at Keigo, he didn’t seem to be in the mood to make the first move so he decided to speak up.

“I’m sorry.”

Keigo looked up at Ren, confused. “What are you apologizing for?” His mouth twitched. He wanted to know whether Ren knew what he did wrong.

“I was acting immature, I’m sorry I didn’t take into account that you were still mourning. It’s just that…” Ren lets out a big sigh. “I guess we dealt with the situation differently. You were more inclined to your emotions and I, well, I drowned myself in work and practice.”

Ren truly felt sorry for all the trouble he had done. Now his head was a lot clearer, he noticed that he could’ve done things in a different manner. He felt remorseful that he didn’t take account that Keigo just lost his dearest best friend. Ren was too focused on perfecting the tribute to Junki that he forgot about considering the feelings of his members. They were all tired and in mourning, why didn’t he think of that?

“It’s fine. I’m sorry too. I had to take it out on you physically.” Keigo humbled himself. He knew that they were both in the wrong. Keigo knew that he acted too rashly and bashing Ren in the head and choking him wasn’t exactly the best choice.

“I’m sorry about your head and neck. I hope it doesn’t leave a mark.” Keigo flinched at the sight of his hand prints slowly disappearing from Ren’s slender neck.

Ren chuckled, his eyes crinkling into little crescents. Upon seeing Ren’s laughing face, Keigo smiled. The atmosphere of the place is finally letting up. Keigo was relieved that Ren was such a forgiving and sensitive person. He didn’t know how he would handle the situation if there was still tension by the time the dome concert started.

“It’s fine! Nothing a little more foundation can cover up. Maybe it’ll be an excuse for me to finally blend it down my neck.” Ren replied in a joking manner.

Letting out a little giggle, Keigo looked away from Ren. The both of them were wondering why the surrounding was quiet only to find out that the backstage was empty. Looks like Sho told the other members to leave them be for a while.

Remembering something, Ren opened his mouth to ask. 

“Hey Keigo?” Keigo hummed in reply.

“Why were you so mad about the guitar? I’m sorry if it sounds ignorant. I just want to know the reason.”

It all clicked inside of Keigo’s head. No wonder Ren was acting the way he was. Ren didn’t know it was Junki’s guitar. Keigo rubbed his face in frustration. He was frustrated at himself. Why didn’t he think about the possibility of Ren not knowing who the owner of the guitar was before throwing a punch.

“Ah… Uhm… It’s kind of…” He hesitated not wanting Ren to feel guiltier than he was, but seeing Ren’s expectant face, he had to answer him now.

_“It’s Junki’s guitar.”_

To say that Ren was stunned was an underestimation. Ren was appalled at himself for his past actions. He can’t believe he tried to swing Junki’s guitar at Keigo. Why did he do that! Ren let out a gasp.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I genuinely didn’t know it was Junki’s guitar. Oh my god why did I do that. Oh no is it broken? I hope it’s not broken. I don’t even know what to do if it was broken. Keigo I’m really sorry-” 

The screeching of the chair stopped Ren’s rambling. Keigo stood up to get the guitar and check if it was damaged. If it really was damaged, he needed to tell at least a staff member to prepare the spare guitar they had brought as a back-up. Carefully lifting up the guitar from where Sukai had last left it, he walked back to Ren and sat down on his chair.

Unzipping the case, he only opened it up so he could see the front portion of the guitar. Keigo looked at Ren who was staring at the guitar in an uneasy way. Ren was probably nervous to see if he had done any damage to the instrument.

“Is it broken?” Ren asked Keigo.

Keigo inspected the strings to see if anyone of them snapped. They all seemed fine. He scanned the guitar and found nothing seemed out of place. He smiled at Ren reassuringly.

“Don’t worry, nothing is broken.”

With Keigo’s reassurance, Ren let out a sigh of relief. He really didn’t know what he’d do if he had broken the guitar. His guilt would have been off the charts. Feeling shameful, Ren stood up and bowed deeply towards Keigo. 

“I’m really sorry for this.” 

Keigo was flustered by the deep bow. He tried to tell Ren to stand up and he didn’t need to bow so low, but he was interrupted by Ruki’s entrance.

“You guys made up already?”

Ruki entered the backstage along with his other members. He held an ice pack in one hand. Ruki thought either one of them might need it after that intense fight. They sure didn’t want to show up in front of the audience with reddening skin that was ready to bruise.

Seeing Ren’s neck, he clicked his tongue. They really outdid themselves with this one. Worried that the handprints would leave a mark, Ruki approached Ren and applied the cold compress on his neck.

Startled by the sudden coolness to his skin, Ren jumped and squirmed in his seat. 

“Yeah, we talked about it.” Keigo replied to Ruki’s question.

Ruki nodded and handed the cold compress to Ren. His hand was growing numb from the coldness of the object mentioned. Their attention was moved when loud footsteps were heard. Naoto, who had been called by Shosei earlier, was rushing to get to the backstage.

He was absolutely concerned when he heard from Shosei that Keigo and Ren were fighting. Naoto initially thought that they were just arguing and throwing hurtful words at each other. It was normal to have disagreements and Naoto thought that he should let them talk it out themselves.

However, upon hearing that Keigo had bashed Ren’s head with a microphone and started to choke him. He didn’t believe it at first but Shosei’s reaction said otherwise. Naoto put down whatever he was doing and ran for his life. He had to stop the boys from killing each other.

Keigo? He had expected, but Ren? Now that was like comparing apples to oranges. He wanted to see for himself whether it was real. Upon arriving at his target destination, he was extremely puzzled.

From his point of view, he could see the boys scattered around the room. Takumi was picking up a chair on the ground while Syoya was crouching down to reach what seemed to be a microphone. He started taping the object as if to check whether it was still working. It wouldn’t work either way since it wasn’t on, but Naoto decided not to tell Syoya that.

Ren and Keigo were seated in chairs, in the middle of the room, facing each other. Ruki was standing near Ren with his hands on his hips.

“Where’s the fight?’ Naoto asked.

“You just missed it.” Ruki replied, shifting his weight on his left foot.

Naoto started scratching his head. He didn’t know what to do with the information he was just told. Initially, he had planned to stop them, but now that he knew the fight was done, he didn’t even get to serve his purpose because the fight was done.

Looking closely, Naoto noticed that Ren had a slightly redding mark on his neck that looked like handprints. That definitely wasn’t a good sign. He came up to Ren immediately.

“Ren, you okay bud?” Naoto started to touch the print on Ren’s neck.

“Yeah I’m good! It doesn’t hurt for the most part. I need to get it covered though.”

Nodding, Naoto then turned to Keigo to check his appearance. He scanned him briefly. After giving a glance over, he didn’t find anything to be jarringly out of place. Just in case, Naoto asked Keigo as a precaution.

“How about you Keigo? Do you need some cover up makeup as well?”

Keigo shook his head. He explained that he only got hit on the jaw so it was unlikely that it’ll leave a mark and if it did, he has a makeup pouch with him. He did, however, feel a bruise growing on his arm, but it was not a worry since all his outfits during this particular day for the dome tour all had long sleeves. He simply needed to retuck in his shirt and swipe away the dust that had landed on his pants from the hair hitting him.

Understanding that Keigo didn’t need immediate help, Naoto turned his full attention to Ren. He gripped Ren’s chin to check if Ren had more spots that needed to cover up. Naoto found a small patch of the skin of his cheeks were read.

Letting go of Ren’s chin, Naoto backed away a little to give Ren space to stand. Taking note of the spots that need treatment, he mentioned for Ren to stand up.

“Stand up Ren, let’s go to your makeup artist.”

Obediently standing up, Ren followed Naoto walking out of the backstage to presumably find the make-up artist that he mentioned. Ren hesitated at first and looked at Keigo, he decided to say some words to encourage Keigo.

“Hey Keigo, I’m sorry again. About today I mean. Let’s work hard today, yeah?” Ren tilted his head.

Keigo nodded smiling at Ren. Getting ready to leave, Ren remembered something about Junki’s guitar. He was hesitant about telling him but thought that it would have been better if he had known.

“Hey… uhm… You might want to take the guitar out of the case? Maybe Junki left something?” After giving the suggestion, Ren hurried and left. Keigo was about to ask Ren what he meant, but after seeing the older man scurry away from him. He needed to reserve his voice.

Patting his pants pockets, he felt around for his BB cushion. He took it out of his pockets and opened it to look at himself in the mirror. He turned his head so Keigo could see the spot on his jaw where Ren had punched him. The makeup was still intact and nothing seemed out of place. As an assurance he started patting his cushion on his jaw to even out the makeup that was scraped off.

“Hey, can I borrow your cushion?” 

Shosei felt the sweat drip off from his forehead. He had run really fast to look for their manager, Naoto. Now he was reaping what he sowed. Wiping his forehead with a tissue, he noticed some of his makeup had come off, clearly needing a retouch.

“Oh yeah, sure man. Here.” Keigo handed Shosei the BB cushion.

Taking the cushion, Shosei uttered a word of thanks. Opening the object, he stared at himself through the mirror. Keigo’s didn’t exactly have the same skin tone as him but since they use the same shade, he thought it would do. 

This brand really needed to make more shades in different skin tones!

Seeing that Shosei was doing his own thing, Keigo started to look through the guitar case. It was half-zipped so he flipped the front cover towards him. Remembering Ren’s words, he looked through the pockets of the case.

Keigo couldn’t find anything except for a pick and a capo. He decided to take the guitar out of the case. Sliding the nylon case off, he placed the guitar on his lap. 

The front part really didn’t have anything special to it. He had already examined it when Ren thought he had broken the instrument. So instead, he turned it over on its back. Keigo was careful not to drop the object since it didn’t have the case on. Even though the case was barely protecting it.

Noticing a white sticker on the upper left portion of the back of the guitar, he squinted at it. _The sticker formed a ghost._ It seemed strangely familiar. Keigo just didn’t know why it seemed that way.

The ghost sticker was about the size of a thumb and it had a cute smiling face on it. The sticker looked old and was discolored. The white already passed the stage of pure white and was slowly turning yellow. It was safe to say it looked old and worn out. The edges were already starting to curl and peel back signaling its age.

“Oh isn’t that your sticker?”

Shosei, who had finished touching up his stage makeup, was now looking at the guitar Keigo was holding. He handed Keigo back his BB cushion but Keigo put his palm up, signaling for Shosei to keep it first. Understanding what Keigo had meant, Shosei placed the object in his pockets.

“Huh? What do you mean by my sticker?” Keigo asked, confused.

Shosei looked into Keigo’s eyes, noticing that Keigo looked dead serious and plain confused, Shosei decided to be a dear and explain which sticker it was.

“You really don’t remember?” Keigo shook his head. 

“Uhhh… I think you made it back when we first debuted? You made it when you got yourself sticker paper and a new drawing tablet. You even gave it to all of us. Mine got wet so it’s gone now.” Shosei laughed the awkwardness off, thinking that Keigo would scold him for not keeping his sticker.

Keigo’s eyes widened in realization. He remembered which sticker it was. He had custom made his members some ghost stickers. 

It was back when his fans started to use the ghost emoji when talking about him. 

He found it endearing that his fans would even remember such a small detail of him liking ghost stories and then using it as his respective emoji.

Remembering the exact same moment he had given the sticker to Junki, he sighed in nostalgia. Junki had gone out to laser engrave his name on his guitar. Keigo on the other hand designed a sticker for him to customize his precious instrument.

He thought it would have been a good way to drop hints to his best friend. At the time Keigo found Junki very attractive, he wanted to drop hints about his real feelings. Keigo even went as far as making the ghost look like it was throwing a kiss with a heart near its mouth.

When Junki arrived back in the dorms, Keigo handed him the sticker. Obviously Junki didn’t pick up on the hidden meaning behind his design. Keigo at least wanted to see Junki put on the sticker but he declined saying that the engraving went wrong and it looked ugly. Junki told Keigo that he never wanted anyone to see it, took the sticker and went to his room.

Afterwards, he never saw the guitar ever again. Until today that is. Keigo just made another set for his members to mask his intentions to woo Junki. He didn’t want to seem too obvious. 

The thought dawned on him. Keigo didn't have to worry about seeming too obvious, because there was no one to seem obvious about. Junki was gone. However that didn’t mean that his feelings for him had left too.

Keigo was content with being friends, after all he personally thought that they both were growing in their current relationship. There was just a certain connection that was formed and it went beyond relationship labels.

Now he thought that maybe if he wasn’t so complacent, then maybe he could’ve told Junki about his feelings. Maybe, just maybe, they would’ve been together as more than friends. Keigo couldn’t help but ask himself, if he did gather the courage to confess his feelings, would anything change? Would Junki still have left?

He shook his head. How dare he think that something so trivial would affect something inevitable or rather, it was all out of his control.

“Hey Keigo? Did you hear Naoto-san?”

Shosei tapped Keigo on the shoulder. Keigo looked up at Shosei who was standing beside him. He tilted his head as if to signify a question.

“Naoto-san came back with Ren and told everyone that we have 10 more minutes to go until we open.”

Keigo felt his shoulders become tense. It was almost time for the big day. After all that happened in the last 30 minutes, the actual dome concert had slipped out of his mind. Keigo’s head was too full of adrenaline because of his fight with Ren.

“Oh fuck, this is making me too nervous.”

“Why don’t you try practicing the song? So it’s still fresh in your mind.” Shosei smiled at Keigo, giving him advice so as to not get cold feet.

“You mean Wherever You Are?” Shosei nodded. Keigo thought for a bit before slowly nodding his head. 

“Yeah maybe I should practice the song.”

Propping the guitar on his knee, Keigo tried to remember the chords of the song. He moved his left hand to position it on the neck of the guitar. The fingers slowly moving into position into which chord it needed to be.

“You practicing?” Ren appeared in front of Keigo and took a seat down in the chair across from him. Keigo lifted his head to look at Ren.

“Yeah. You done putting on makeup?” Keigo lifted his eyebrow.

“Mhmm, the stylist told me to ice it when we get back home.”

Keigo took a deep breath and cleared his thoughts, he had to remember the chords of the song to be able to play it properly.

“Did you find whatever Junki left you?”

_Or Keigo can just multi-task._

What immediately popped into Keigo’s head was about how Junki cherished something he made on a whim. It warmed his heart. “It was sweet of Junki to keep the sticker I gave him after all these years. I actually thought he would’ve thrown it away by now.”

As he continued the conversation with Ren, he placed his fingers in the respective chords, readying himself to strum the guitar to the tune of the song. Lyrics in his mind, being sung.

  
  
  


**I'm telling you, oh yeah**

  
  
  


“I’m glad you got to see the guitar Keigo. It puts my mind at peace knowing that you finally saw it yourself.” Ren says in a relieved manner.

Keigo hums a reply at Ren, not really paying attention.

  
  
  


**I softly whisper**

  
  
  


“Actually, I have something to tell you. I just hesitated since we were all on edge the past week.” 

Just nodding his head, Keigo continued to strum the guitar to the song, allowing Ren to continue but not giving him his full attention. He half heartedly hums a reply again.

“I was actually with Junki on his deathbed, I rushed to the hospital as soon as he was admitted. I got to hear his last words.”

  
  
  


**Tonight, tonight**

  
  
  


Hearing Junki’s name peaked Keigo’s attention, but he continued to strum the guitar. He looked at Ren to continue what he was supposed to say.

“He told me to take care of you guys, and that he’ll be leaving the main vocal to Sho now.”

The statement caused Keigo to frown. Of Course leave it up to Junki to joke even on his deathbed. He truly had everyone’s good intentions on his mind. It tickled Keigo’s heart to think that Junki would care about other people rather than his well being.

“Junki told me to especially care for you.”

  
  
  


**You are my angel**

  
  
  


Keigo was starting to get confused. What was the point of this conversation? Did Ren just sit beside him because Junki told him to take care of all the members? Wasn’t that already a given?

“Where is this going?” Keigo asked.

“It’s quite ironic actually now that you’re playing the song.”

Keigo tilted his head in confusion. He didn’t catch on to what Ren was hinting.

“He called you his angel.”

  
  
  


**Keigo stopped strumming his guitar.**

  
  
  


His eyes widened in disbelief. Junki would never say such affectionate things to him. He had always made sure to draw a line between them whenever Keigo would hint at anything. Of course Junki would do it in a humorous way so as to not offend Keigo.

Does this mean that… Keigo held a chance?

When the thought had occurred in his head, a follow up was quick to rebut it. Keigo’s head hung low as he thought about it. His heart breaking at just the thought of it.

What use would it be to have a chance if he didn’t have Junki to strike a chance with. It was too late to do anything. Keigo wished that he wouldn’t learn of Junki’s true feelings. It would only break him more knowing that he could’ve done better. The emotional turmoil of being star crossed lovers would break him down.

Keigo wished for Ren to not continue what he thought he was going to say.

Luckily for him, Naoto called all the members. They were going to officially start the concert in 3 minutes. Sho wanted to do a little pep talk before they went on stage.

Holding the guitar, he gave it to a staff member who was nearby. He explained that this was the guitar he was going to use and he didn’t want to use the guitar that was originally prepared for him. Keigo motioned for Ren to go with him towards where the other boys were heading. 

They stood in a short narrow hallway leading up to a staircase that would take them to the stage. Forming an oval, they tried to fit all ten members in the hallway.

“Is everyone here?” Sho asked, looking around, mentally counting the heads that were present.

After Sho was done making sure no one was left behind, he asked all of them to huddle together. They bowed down to hear each other more clearly since the crowd was going ballistic over the minutes left.

“Can everyone hear me?” The group replied with a grunt of agreement.

“Ok good. Let me start with I know we all had a rough week. Especially with the loss of Junki, but we have to persevere. Especially since this is Junki’s dream. Since we can’t attend his funeral for today, just for a few seconds, can we have a moment of silence for him.”

The group followed their leader, giving a moment of silence for their beloved deceased member. In contrast to what was happening inside, the dome was so noisy. The crowd was fervently chanting their group name “JO1”.

Goosebumps appeared on Keigo’s skin. It must have been fun to be that unaware of what’s happening. Albeit having known that they had lost a member, it was comforting that the fans were still supportive of them.

As the chanting became louder and louder, Sho had to break the silence.

“Rest in peace Junki. You will never be forgotten.” They all formed their hands in a prayer position, and closed their eyes. “Now the least we could do for him is do a good job at performing. Let’s go out there and perform our hearts out. This one’s for Junki! Let’s keep it high tension!”

Everyone cheered as Sho made a reference to something Junki would frequently say. They all put their hands in and raised them up high. The boys could hear the emcee introduce them so they all hurried to position.

They jogged up towards the stage, slowly trickling into the stage. Loud cheers erupted from the audience as each of them were finally on stage. Keigo was the last one to enter.

Before he entered, Keigo had to take a deep breath to calm himself down. This was real, and the long awaited dream of performing in the dome was finally going to happen. Their group’s goal had finally been achieved. But all this for the price of losing Junki.

Was it worth it? Of Course it wasn’t. Nothing could ever amount to Junki. But knowing him, he would still have ushered the band to do it, even without him.

_This is for you my angel._

Keigo took a step forward and into the blinding lights. He could hear the audience yelling his name. He finally took a step on the stage. 

_I’ll perform my heart out for you, Junki. I love you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was it? I hope it wasn't that bad. I am aware that some characters appear OOC, I am slowly working on it!
> 
> Please do leave some comments if you have time! I'm open to criticism, especially since this is my first work.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dome concert is coming to an end and it's about time Keigo were to perform the song "Wherever You Are by One Ok Rock". As Keigo performs his heart out for his best friend, he notices something on the Junki's guitar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Me again! It's the last chapter for the songfic. I really hope you enjoy reading this fanfiction. 
> 
> For this chapter, it would really make the experience better if you have Wherever You Are by One Ok Rock in the background while you read! Trust me, it makes a big difference.
> 
> Without further ado, this it the last chapter of my JunKeigo fanfiction!

Sweat was dripping down Keigo’s forehead. The group had just finished performing their debut song Infinity along with the theme song of Produce 101 Japan, Tsukame.

Performing the song left a nostalgic feeling among their fans. Remembering their starting days were making the audience emotional. It was a good way to set up the atmosphere for the next part of the concert.

Waiting for the crowd to die down for a bit, Sho raised the microphone to his mouth. Upon seeing that Sho was about to say something the fans went silent.

“That was fun wasn’t it?” The dome shouted in agreement to Sho’s question.

“Unfortunately all good times have to come to an end.” Exclamations of sadness could be heard from the audience, clearly saddened by the fact that the time spending with their idols was ending. “The concert is ending, but don’t worry we have one more song.”

Sho looked towards Ren, signaling for him to continue talking about the song. “This was Keigo’s suggestion as a tribute. So in respect to his wishes, he will be singing most of the verses.”

Keigo tried to hide an embarrassed smile. The crowd was cheering him on. Hearing statements like “You can do it!” and “Do your best!” were comforting to hear. Ren was now looking at Keigo to explain the situation. Keigo nodded at Ren, letting him know that he understood his intentions. Moving the microphone closer to his mouth, he spoke into it.

“As you know, during the past week we have lost someone very dear to us.” Silence filled the dome as soon as Keigo was talking.

“Yes, we lost our Junkicci last week. You may have already heard it from the news, but I thought it would only be proper to share it with you guys again.”

While Keigo was talking, Takumi had walked up behind him and gripped his arm in an attempt to be comforting. Feeling Takumi’s reassuring squeeze, his voice trembled and tears started to collect in the corners of his eyes.

He couldn’t help but put the microphone behind his back so that the audience couldn’t hear any sob that would mistakenly come out of his mouth.

Sensing the emotions that were turbulent in Keigo’s mind, Takumi leans his head on Keigo’s shoulders. He looks towards Ren for help. Ren picks up on the signal and immediately covers for Keigo.

“We’ll be singing Whenever You Are by One Ok Rock. Our love song to our dearest member, Junki.”

As Ren finished his statement, the lights dimmed until nothing could be seen on stage. This was the groups’ cue to walk down the main stage where the set was already prepared for them. Eleven chairs were lined up next to each other with a lone microphone stand in front of the chair in the middle. Keigo assumed that the chair was meant for him, so he walked towards it.

Keigo looked at Takumi with grateful eyes. He was so blessed to have such wonderful and comforting friends. Takumi nodded at him and walked to the chair near the end, leaving Keigo alone to be settled on his chair.

Sliding the microphone into the microphone stand, Keigo sat down on the chair. He fiddled with the microphone stand to adjust it to his desired length.

As he was doing so, Junki’s guitar was thrusted into his sight. Keigo took the guitar and looked up to thank whoever had brought it to him. Issei had entered his vision. Issei had been avoiding him the entire concert so he didn’t think it would be Issei who would bring the guitar to him.

“Ah Issei. I’m sorry for awhile ago-”

Before Keigo could finish his apology Issei had silenced him. Sitting down on the chair beside Keigo, he turned to properly converse with him.

“You don’t have to apologize.”

Issei looked to be in deep thought for a while before slipping his hand in his pocket and pulling out a guitar pick, holding it towards Keigo. “Just promise me you’ll do well for Junki.” Issei had his hand out and was waiting for Keigo to take the guitar pick as a sign of confirmation to his request.

“You have my word.” Taking the guitar pick, he faced the audience and readied himself to sing the song at any moment. A staff member came up to him and plugged a long aux cord into the guitar’s output jack. Placing the cord behind him, where Keigo wouldn’t be inconvenienced.

All the boys had already taken their seats, with Issei and Sho beside Keigo. They listened as the technical staff counted down in their in-ear pieces. 

Taking a deep breath, Keigo willed himself not to cry at the song. Nonetheless, he was ready to sing for his beloved angel.

As the countdown reached one Keigo was signaled to start strumming. He did so, strumming the chords of the first verse. It was starting.

Keigo opened his mouth to sing.

  
  


**I'm telling you, oh yeah**

**I softly whisper**

**Tonight, tonight**

**You are my angel**

The first verse of the song resonated in Keigo’s heart. It described the current situation perfectly. His singing was hushed, but the microphones and sound system amplified his voice so it could be heard by the audience.

The cold night breeze filled the spacious dome. Keigo could feel the cold air hit his knuckles making them numb. A chill went down his spine as he continued to sing in such a hushed voice. It was as if he was whispering his sweet confession in Junki’s ears.

In the dead of the night, he was fantasizing of what could’ve been. Singing to a song Junki would frequently sing. Picturing himself squeezing Junki tightly and then softly whispering “You are my angel”.

**I love you**

**We will become one**

**Tonight, tonight**

**I just say**

Keigo continued to sing the second verse. Being able to confess his feelings to Junki in front of so many people is a blessing. Being able to be vocal about his undying love for his best friend even through disguised means.

It truly made him happy that he could freely express himself in times like this. Keigo just thought that he would’ve been happier if the man himself could actually hear it. But that wasn’t possible anymore, Junki was gone.

**Wherever you are, I'll always make you smile**

**Wherever you are, I'm always by your side**

**Whatever you say, you're always on my mind**

**I promise you "forever" right now**

Backing away from the microphone, Keigo let the others take the first chorus. He listened to them sing in sweet harmonies. Making their promises to Junki through sweetened hymns. Keigo had little time for himself to think.

Junki had sung this a lot to Keigo. So he didn’t think much of the lyrics back then. After all, if you repeat a song too much, it’ll deteriorate its impact. Junki had sung this to Keigo every night when they just debuted. Keigo thought Junki just really liked the song and it’s melody. That was the reason Keigo made up in his head to at least make sense of the reason Junki would sing it to him every night.

Listening to it’s lyrics now. Keigo was starting to think differently. He listened to the song attentively. Keigo slowly realized that Junki promised to always keep Keigo happy. That he’d always keep him happy, forever.

In a sense he did manage to keep his promise. Junki managed to always put a smile on Keigo’s face no matter what. He promised he would do it forever.

If by forever, Junki meant until the end of his lifetime, then he did manage to fulfill his promise.

**I don't need a reason**

**I just want you baby**

**Alright alright**

**Day after day**

Sukai stepped up to sing the second verse of the song leaving Keigo more time to reflect. As of the moment, Keigo was doubting his own hearing. Was Wherever You Are always this romantic? Was Junki singing a love song to him all this time?

Was this a confession of his feelings? Keigo was beating himself up over not noticing it earlier. If he had not been so blind and numb to Junki’s own feelings then things would have been better.

He felt his heart crumple. Day after day, Keigo’s feelings for Junki began to grow. He was just too afraid to tell Junki because he thought the chances of him declining were bigger. That maybe the prospect of his best friend rejecting his feelings would destroy their friendship.

Keigo tried to convince himself that he was satisfied with just a friendship. He was a fool for thinking that. Now that it’s all too late, he’s beating himself up for what could have been. If Keigo had just listened a little more carefully to the song Junki had been singing to him every night, then he would have had Junki. They both wanted each other, but neither of them was brave enough to admit it.

**We still have a long journey ahead**

**Please always, always**

**Until death stay with me**

**We carry on**

It was Keigo’s turn to sing. So he leaned in closer to the microphone. These lyrics resonated with him deeply. There was much regret with Junki’s departure. After all they were living the dream Junki had always wanted. Keigo felt a sense of betrayal.

This was just the starting point of their career. They were steadily walking down a flowery path and yet they already lost one member. It broke their heart to know that they’d be continuing on as a band without Junki. The boys agreed that JO1 was all 11 members, nothing less or more. So even if Junki had left their presence, they would always keep him in mind during every performance they would do.

If he could just beg Junki to come back. If only it were that easy. He would have kneeled down and let his forehead kiss the ground. He wanted all of this not to be real. He wanted Junki to stay with him. But that was a selfish thought, they had to carry on.

All of it felt surreal. They felt as if Junki just went on a long vacation and on the morning after the concert, they’d be able to see eachother again. But Keigo knew this was impossible. Junki was dead. 

**Wherever you are, I'll always make you smile**

**Wherever you are, I'm always by your side**

**Whatever you say, you're always on my mind**

**I promise you "forever" right now**

As the second chorus approached, the rest of the boys joined in to continue the song. During one of the countless nights the pair of friends were together, guitar in hand, jamming to different songs. Only then did Keigo realise he loved Junki.

He watched as Junki’s eyes sparkled, as he sang to the tune of his guitar. Keigo couldn’t help but smile whenever he was with his best friend. Every single second spent together was something he’d cherish his whole life.

At one point they decided to close the lights to completely feel the night’s atmosphere. Keigo watched as the moonlight reflected off of Junki’s skin, casting shadows over it. Playing the familiar chorus of the song, Junki looks directly at Keigo as he sings.

It was a sweet moment for both of them as they continued to sing in the dead of the night. As he looked back into the other’s eyes, Keigo found himself uttering promises of always being by each other's side. That no matter what, he’d try to make Junki happy. He’d do anything for that smile of his. Keigo thought to himself.  _ Damn, I’m in love. _

**Wherever you are, I'll never make you cry**

**Wherever you are, I'll never say goodbye**

**Whatever you say, you're always on my mind**

**I promise you "forever" right now**

Keigo reminisced of all the promises he made while looking at Junki. He remembered the way he vowed that he’ll always be by his side no matter the season. That Keigo would be the first one to wipe Junki’s tears away if anything were to happen, and he also promised to never be the cause of said tears.

Now, Keigo didn’t take into account, what if Junki was the one to make him cry? What if Junki was the first one to leave? What if Junki was the first one to say goodbye?

But Keigo didn’t have any qualms with that. All he needed to know was whether he was able to complete his promise to Junki.

In a sense, Keigo was able to complete his promise to Junki. He promised to do all those things “forever”. If forever meant the day one of them dies, then Keigo did do his promises, but at what cost? 

**For us, the day we should celebrate the most**

**Is the one we first met**

**So, the second day we should celebrate the most**

**Is the one we call "today"**

Glaring at the guitar, Keigo stops strumming. By now the instrumentals have overpowered his guitar playing so even if he strums, it won’t be heard. He can get away with not playing the guitar for this part until the end.

Overcome with emotions caused by his thinking, Keigo hangs his head low. He had quite a while until his next line. So he decided to rest his fingers first. Placing his guitar pick in his pocket, he rested his arm on the guitar. His throat was a bit choked up. All his thoughts were causing his body to react negatively. Keigo didn’t want to look into the crowd, so he tilted his guitar to look at the sticker he gave Junki instead.

Nostalgia immediately filled his body. All the old memories were filling his brain. The edges were already peeling off. It stood the test of time, like their friendship.

He couldn’t help but smile fondly at the sticker. Keigo found himself wanting to caress the said sticker, so he did. His hand slowly reached for it and his fingers lightly grazed it. Keigo felt something weird upon touch.

**Someone I can love from my heart**

**Someone I love from the bottom of my heart**

**In the centre of this love**

**You are my heart**

There were shallow bumps on the surface below the sticker. A guitar’s back was normally supposed to be smooth, so Keigo found it odd that there would be bumps underneath the sticker. It felt like something was engraved on the back.

Originally Keigo thought it would have been the engraving Junki had gotten of his name back when they first debuted. However, to touch, the engraving felt long and triangular. It wasn’t Junki’s name.

Something inside Keigo was urging him to see what was beneath the sticker. Like it was definitely something he’d need to see. Keigo didn’t know why he felt it, but he did. There wasn’t anything to lose so Keigo decided to go with his instincts. He started to scratch off the edges of the ghost sticker, slowly revealing what was beneath it.

At first, Keigo could recognize the characters to Junki's name. He knew that the engraving was the size of the whole sticker so he continued to peel it off.

Now Keigo could recognize the characters of his name beside Junki’s. It had a thin line separating the two of them. Keigo wasn’t born yesterday, he knew what this meant. He just wasn’t ready to see the full image, it would crush him more knowing that his feelings could have been reciprocated.

Only if he had more courage then he would have been Junki’s. His mind was begging him to stop, he wasn’t ready for the emotional toll it would lead to, but there was no stopping. His eyes started to water as tears were starting to prick his eyes.

He ripped the ghost sticker off. Ripping his heart open in the process.

**Wherever you are, I'll always make you smile**

**Wherever you are, I'm always by your side**

**Whatever you say, you're always on my mind**

**I promise you "forever" right now**

What appeared in front of Keigo was the characters of both their names lined up beside each other, with a line in between them. Attached to the line was an umbrella with a heart on top. It was a love umbrella, an Ai-ai gasa.

Was this what Junki had hid from him? Is that why he wouldn’t play the guitar in front of him anymore? Was Junki scared to let Keigo know that he had romantic feelings for him as well? Why didn’t he pick up on it sooner? If Keigo had only been more perceptive then he wouldn’t have regrets now.

Tears were threatening to spill from his eyes as he wallowed in his own shame, misery, and bitterness. He hated himself for not being able to tell Junki about his feelings. Now that he knew about Junki’s feelings for him as well, Keigo hated himself more. His emotions were now overflowing as he thought of his star-crossed love for Junki. He just stared up at the heavens, wondering why they were so cruel to the both of them. It was all futile now.

Keigo looked at the audience one last time. Tears slowly dripped down his face as the other boys finished the song for him. He hears the last chorus as he buries his face into his hands. As the boys repeat wherever you are one last time, one thought appears in his mind.

**Wherever you are**

**Wherever you are**

**Wherever you are**

  
  
  


_ Junki, you were my angel.  _

Junki was his literal angel. 

Keigo thought to himself, “Wherever you are, I hope you’re happy” but Keigo could only wish. He couldn’t do anything else. He couldn’t do anything else because Junki was dead.

As Keigo’s heart stilled like the heart monitor in Junki’s hospital room. The audience erupted into cheers as the rest of JO1 finished the song. Keigo couldn’t think anymore. He just hoped his  _ angel _ would come back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the end! Thank you for reading my work! It really means a lot to me. Please feel free to leave comments, it would really mean so much to me if you leave comments. 
> 
> Again thank you for sticking with my first ever fanfiction! Have a good day!


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